But his fall from grace accelerated when his wife Gu Kailai, 54, was convicted in August 2012 of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood.

The British newspaper The Telegraph reported that Heywood had demanded close to $2 million from the Bo family and threatened to kill their son over property ownership deals overseas.

Gu didn't contest the charges during her one-day trial in which prosecutors alleged she got Heywood drunk and gave him cyanide mixed with water. A Bo family aide was sentenced to nine years in jail for confessing his involvement in the murder.

Gu's trial prompted The New York Times to report that "when it comes to patriotic blockbusters, synchronized military parades and choreographed political cavalcades that fill the Great Hall of the People, the Chinese Communist Party knows how to put on a show."

Ordinary Chinese ridiculed the decision to spare Gu's life, saying a commoner would have been executed for the murder of a foreigner, the New Times reported.

The announcement this week of Bo's punishment follows a five-day trial in Jinan Intermediate People's Court from Aug. 22-26.

The Xinhua article pointed to a comment in The Legal Daily, the official newspaper of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee.

The Legal Daily, a newspaper of the political and legal authorities of the CPC, said "the public trial showed procedural justice, while the open verdict in accordance with the law showed substantive justice."

Legal Daily said the facts of the case are clear -- Bo withdrew a confession during the trial, but "he couldn't justify his reason and his explanation contradicted the evidence of the case."

The case showed that "in China, a socialist country under the rule of law, everyone is equal before the law" and no matter how strong a person's political power may be, the Legal Daily commentary said.

Bo's trial was acknowledged as notable for at least one thing -- the court took the unprecedented step of posting some live updates of his trial on Sina Weibo, one of China's Twitter-like microblogs, the BBC reported.

The updates showed Bo putting up a vigorous defense. making lengthy comments denying his guilt and cross-examining one of the witnesses.

However, foreign reporters weren't allowed in the court and there were questions over how much editorial control there was over live updates, the BBC said.

"The openness shown by the Bo trial has exceeded public expectations," said Weibo user "Sanyan Dadi," a Liaoning-based journalist.

"The real-time Weibo broadcast by the Jinan court is a historic progress. It would be better if it could be used in ordinary cases, too," said Tang Xiaohu, a Hunan-based lawyer.

But some followers of the trial were concerned, the BBC report said.

By adopting this method of dissemination, [the authorities] managed to balance openness with control," Zhang Zhi'an, a journalism professor at Sun Yet-sen University in Guangzhou, said.

"They have mounted a display of openness while keeping risks under control in a highly skillful manner," he wrote.

The BBC reported Liu Wanqiang, a Guangxi-based journalist for the semi-official China News Service, saying "the selective postings can only show selective openness and selective justice, and cannot be said to represent the truth."

Despite the Communist Party being pleased with its efforts to show the even-handedness of its judicial system, their work may not be finished.

Western media agencies are reporting that Bo may appeal his conviction and sentence.